🪡 Drop the Needle

Reverse audio search — find cleared samples that sound like a song or a cue, or find out exactly what that song is

Producers: any record you love — find cleared samples that sound like it. Composers: any temp you’re scoring to — find cleared sounds that match it.

Drop in any audio clip — your demo, a temp track, a film cue, a YouTube grab, a voice memo off your phone, anything — and we’ll find public-domain, CC0, and CC-BY samples that sound like it. Powered by audio embeddings over the entire Selekt catalog. Need a name instead of a lookalike? The free What song is this? mode identifies the title and artist from the same clip.

New here? It’s free. Create a free account — Google, Microsoft, or email, no credit card, no trial — and run reverse audio search on us.

Free with a free account — searches run on us, and browsing and previewing the catalog is free too; downloading a match needs a free trial or a plan. Each search runs your clip through a neural audio model, distilling it into a high-dimensional acoustic profile, and matching it across the catalog by similarity — about 20 ranked results per search.

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Reverse audio search that finds similar sounds — plus a free What song is this? mode for when you need the name, not a lookalike.

Search by sound

Drop in any clip and we match it by how it actually sounds — timbre, texture, tone — not by tags or keywords.

Audio embeddings

Your clip becomes a high-dimensional acoustic profile, then matched across the catalog by pure similarity. Sounds find sounds.

BPM & key aware

We read your clip's tempo and key on the spot — filter matches to a compatible tempo or key and they drop straight into your project.

Everything's cleared

Matches come only from public-domain, CC0, and CC-BY samples. Chop it, flip it, release it — the paperwork's already done.

Follow the sound

Love a match? Hit “more like this” and keep digging — every result opens a door to a closer one.

What song is this?

Need the name, not a lookalike? The free song-ID mode identifies the title and artist from your clip — then pivots you straight into cleared sounds like it.

Free to use

Create a free account — no credit card, no trial. Run reverse audio search on us.

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How it works

Drop in a clip. Drag in any audio — a demo, a reference track, a clip you grabbed.
Set a 5–10s window. Drag on the waveform to pick the snippet to analyze. A short, focused section gives the sharpest matches.
Match BPM & key (optional). We detect your clip's tempo and key locally — filter results to a compatible tempo or key.
Get your matches. We return cleared CC0 / public-domain samples ranked by how similar they sound, ready to preview — download any match with a trial or plan.

How do I find samples that sound like another song?

Drop the Needle is a reverse audio search: drop in any audio clip and it finds cleared samples that sound like it. Instead of typing keywords, you give it a sound — your demo, a reference track, a clip you grabbed — and it searches the Selekt catalog by how the audio actually feels, using audio embeddings. Every match is a public-domain, CC0, or CC-BY sample you can preview and filter by BPM and key, then download with a trial or plan.

Common use cases

Find a cleared stand-in for a sample you can’t license — drop the part you love and surface samples that sound like it.
Match a reference track — pull cleared samples in the same sonic ballpark as a song you’re chasing.
Fill out a beat — filter results to your project’s BPM and key so a match drops straight in.
Pull the audio apart — once you have a reference or promising match, use the Stem Separator to hear the vocal, drums, bass, and other parts on their own.
Dig deeper — hit “more like this” on any result to follow a sound down a rabbit hole.

Need the name? Identify the song first

Sometimes the question isn’t “what sounds like this?” but “what is this?” The free What song is this? mode identifies a song from an audio file: load a clip and we fingerprint up to two 10-second excerpts against a database of commercial recordings — title, artist, and release info in seconds, up to 5 identifications a day with a free account. Every answer opens both doors: a match means the recording is protected, so we point you at cleared samples that sound like it instead; no match, and you can search by sound or take the whole file through the certified copyright screen for a signed, release-ready report.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find samples that sound like another song?

Drop in any audio clip — a demo, a YouTube grab, a reference track, even a voice memo off your phone — and Drop the Needle searches the Selekt catalog for cleared samples that sound like it. It listens to the actual texture and timbre of your clip using audio embeddings, so the matches resemble how the sound feels, not just its tags. Every result is a public-domain, CC0, or CC-BY sample — free to preview, and downloadable with a trial or plan.

What is reverse audio search?

Reverse audio search finds music by sound instead of by text. Rather than typing keywords, you give it an audio clip and it returns recordings that are sonically similar. Drop the Needle does this across thousands of cleared samples, ranking each match by similarity and letting you keep drilling in with "more like this."

Can I match a sample to the BPM and key of my project?

Yes. When you upload a clip, Drop the Needle detects its BPM and key locally, then lets you optionally filter the results so only samples in a compatible tempo or key come back. That makes it easy to find a cleared sample that drops straight into your beat.

Are the samples it finds cleared for use?

Every match comes from the Selekt catalog, which is sourced from public-domain, CC0, and CC-BY contributors. Each sample ships with a license certificate showing its source and license type, so you can sample, chop, and release with documentation behind it.

Do I need to upload the whole song?

No — a focused 5 to 10 second window works best. After you drop in a clip you drag on the waveform to pick the snippet to analyze; a short, representative section gives sharper matches than passing a full track.

Is this like Shazam — will it tell me the name of a song?

It can do both. Drop the Needle's main search is the opposite of Shazam: you give it a sound and it finds cleared samples that resemble it — by timbre and texture, not by matching a fingerprint to a song database. But when you need the name, the free "What song is this?" mode answers the Shazam question too: it fingerprints up to two 10-second excerpts of your clip against a database of commercial recordings and returns the title and artist when it finds one. Identify the song, then flip straight into finding cleared samples that sound like it.

How do I identify a song from an audio file?

Load your clip and pick "What song is this?" — Drop the Needle scans up to two 10-second excerpts against a database of commercial recordings, and if the recording is known you get its title, artist, and release info in seconds. It's free with a free account, up to 5 identifications a day. An identification names the recording in those excerpts; it isn't a clearance. For a release-ready answer, the certified copyright screen scans your whole file in 10-second windows and issues a signed report.

Does it reverse my audio or play it backwards?

No — that is an audio reverser, a different kind of tool. Drop the Needle never alters your file. It analyzes the sound of your clip and searches our cleared catalog for samples that sound similar, ranked by how closely they match.

Related guides

Reverse sound search: searching by sound — what it is and how it works.
Reverse audio search vs Shazam — identity versus resemblance, and which one you want.
How to find the sample in a song — and one you can actually use.
Find similar sound effects — search cleared SFX and foley by ear.
Temp track alternatives — cleared music that matches a temp you can’t license.

Keep digging: explore the cleared catalog, browse cleared loops, chop a find in the Beat Builder, or try Describe & Find to search cleared samples in plain language.